Posted on 01/16/2007 7:36:07 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
George W Bush yesterday said that the execution of Saddam Hussein bore the hallmarks of a sectarian "revenge killing", in his most critical assessment of the hanging of the former dictator.
The US President criticised the circumstances surrounding Saddam's death and the recent execution of two top aides, including Saddam's half brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, for their roles in the massacre of 148 Shia men in Dujail in 1982.
"I was disappointed and felt like they fumbled the – particularly the Saddam Hussein execution," Mr Bush said in an interview by public broadcast television's Jim Lehrer.
"The message is confusing. It basically says to people, 'Look, you conducted a trial and gave Saddam justice that he didn't give to others. But then, when it came to execute him, it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing."'
Bush at first welcomed the hanging of Saddam on December 30 for crimes against humanity as "an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy", and declared "good riddance". He later said, however, that the execution should have been carried out "in a more dignified way".
An early official video appeared to show that Saddam's execution had been conducted with dignity. However, a leaked video taken by mobile phone later showed the deposed Iraqi leader, a Sunni, being taunted by Shia Muslims as he stood on the gallows with a noose around his neck. The trapdoor was opened before he had finished his prayers.
A government video of this Monday's execution of Barzan, Saddam's former intelligence chief, showed that the hangman's noose decapitated him, leading to claims by leaders of the Sunni minority in Iraq of deliberate mutilation.
Mr Bush said yesterday the hangings showed the Shia-dominated government of prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, charged by many with compounding the sectarian violence in Baghdad, "has still got some maturation to do".
He also admitted that he was "frustrated by progress" in Iraq. "A year ago, I felt pretty good about the situation. I felt like we were achieving our objective, which is a country that can govern, sustain, and defend itself. No question, 2006 was a lousy year for Iraq."
The comments came as it was revealed that Barzan had written to the United Nations pleading for his life before he was hung.
Barzan told Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, that he had "nothing to do" with the killings in Dujail for which he had been condemned to death.
"I request your interference to rescue my threatened life," he wrote, in a five page handwritten note circulated yesterday by one of his lawyers, Giovanni Di Stefano. He said most of the evidence against him bore "the signatures of others and were dated after I resigned from the government at the beginning of 1983."
Mr Di Stefano, who returned from Iraq on Sunday, said he had sent a letter to the International Criminal Court asking for a full investigation of the executions, which he claims were carried out illegally.
He said the hanging of Barzan and Awwad al-Bandar, the head of Saddam's judiciary, had not been authorised by Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, as required by Iraqi law.
"He could not sign them because he was in Syria. I think they were worried that he would commute the sentences if they waited for him to return. He has made his position clear that he was against the hangings," said Mr Di Stefano, who lodged a request for the sentence to be commuted on Boxing day.
He added that the two men had been rushed to execution in order to protect the names of several international companies who had sold chemicals to Iraq. He said he had evidence from the FBI centre in Qatar that companies in the UK, the US, Holland, France, Germany and Italy had sold chemicals which were later used in the Anfal campaign in which as many as 100,000 Kurds were killed. He said the naming of the companies would have been part of the defence strategy if Saddam and Barzan had lived to testify in the trial.
WTF? And that is going to help the situation how? OMG
I'm with you! WTF!
Why did he feel he needed to comment about it in the first place, if reports are accurate??
WHAT!
because its the truth.
and it puts pressure on the Maliki government - start conducting yourself like a GOVERNMENT.
I don't care. Sometimes revenge is appropriate.
Maybe he'd prefer if the hangmen held their pinkeys up as they pulled the lever.
For Saddam's murdering and torturing countless thousands of ordinary Iraqis one can hardly blame them from extracting revenge as well as justice.
I agree. For the President to make no comment at all would have been huge mistake. To comment and say he thought it went hunky-dory would also be a huge mistake. He spoke the truth, which is exactly what I have come to expect and RESPECT about the man.
Iraq does need to grow up. Those executions were not conducted in a very dignified manner.
The important thing is that they were done, and nobody seemed to suffer any unnecessary pain.
But they get a zero for style points. And those do count.
the administration knew the score 15 minutes after the execution - that's why they hurried to make sure the body was properly handled, flying it to Tikrit.
in any case, this is behind us now. and I think this comment from the president sends the message to Maliki - YOU ARE A GOVERNMENT NOW, ACT LIKE ONE. and this is going to be the key concept iraq is going to have to demonstrate they can accomplish (or not) during this "surge", so we might as well set the tone early.
I agree. It's time for Iraq, with Maliki at the helm, to either do or die. This is their last chance. If they fail, it's their failure not ours anymore.
I think he got off easy.
For Iraqis these days, that was dignified.
This does not help his cause.
I personally thought Saddam’s execution would have been much more of a circus. I thought it was about as dignified as it could be if it was to be conducted by Iraqis.
The whole idea of a western-style trial of Saddam was ill-considered, and badly executed. The idea of a western-style execution of sentence was, well, badly executed.
We should have shot the SOB in his spider hole and had done with it.
What we got instead was a farcial show trial, and an amateurish hanging.
The only thing that amazes me about any of this is that President Bush is surprised by any of it. And the fact that he apparently is surprised by it is more than a little disturbing.
He needs to start paying more attention.
I agree. What has possessed him to make a statement like that right now? He should have kept his mouth shut. This only makes him look weak and wishy washy.
I don't get it. Republicans never speak up when DIMs are slandering them in public. When they do make public statements, it's baloney like this. This party has a death wish.
I believe, and this is one of my major critcisms of Bush's tenure as President, that he has never understood that the President is the leader of his party as well as the country.
WTF??? GWB.
This is becoming more and more bizarre and unbelievable as time rolls on.
Saddam was a sadistic torturer. Nailing him to a cross or hanging drawling and quartering him were too good for him.
Now Bush is having second thoughts?
I am beginning to wonder about him.
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